Engaging a child playfully with literacy involves looking for purposeful ways to introduce aspects of literacy into their play. Like making bags of pet food to sell in a pet store.
Start by thinking about what your child enjoys playing and then consider possible literacy ideas or props that might act to enhance their play. Here are a few ideas to get you started…
- Any form of transport play: making tickets or adding travel/road maps.
- Shops: make open/closed signs, labels/signs for sale items and provide tools for ‘writing’ shopping lists.
- Pirate play: create treasure map, ‘Wanted’ posters or a Captain’s log.
- Block play: see suggestions in this previous Literacy Spot post.
- Dancing, theatrical shows or movies: make tickets or event programmes.
- Doctor or veterinary surgery: add a pretend appointment book and script pad.
- Hair salon: add an appointment book or make a style guide using pictures cut from magazines.
- Fairies, witches, wizards: provide tools for ‘writing’ recipes for magic spells.
Is there a fun and playful way that you could add literacy to your child’s play today?
What is Childhood 101′s Literacy Spot? It is a weekly reminder of the importance of young children learning playfully as each week I share one idea for playing around with literacy, taken from my many years working as an early childhood teacher. Visit the previous Literacy Spot posts for more fun ideas for playing with literacy.
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
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